Not sure what you mean by decorative items.. if you mean crafting ordinary things no you dont get reactants that way. You get your tradeskill apprentice placed in your house, everyday you can do a speed up reseach and craft something for him when you take it back you get a reward IF your lvl 90 crafter you have a chance at getting a colossal reactant and it doesnt matter what tier you are researching you still have a chance at getting colossals as long as your 90 crafter. The only zone I have seen a colossal drop in is EoW so you still have a chance to get them even without being a crafter. As for the reactants for lower tiers yes you can get those off mobs from ex chests pretty much anywhere.

It's just from doing the daily quest, it doesn't matter what you are researching.

Everytime you hand in the daily quest you get a chance to get the reactant appropriate to whatever level you are in crafting.

TY.

I asked because I'm researching the level 90 items and doing the daily quests to make equipment for my apprentice on all 9 crafters. Over the first 3 weeks, I got 3 colossals. Except for the provisioner, all have graduated from the armor/jewelry items to the "Greater Essence of X", which I called the decorative items in the OP. Since then, over 36 days x 9 crafters I've gotten zero colossals, and a guildy with similar effort also has gotten zero.

Somewhere back there the decorative recipe changed to not need a colossal to make it, instead using roots. I've gotten a pile of rare everythings over the weeks, including the roots, and wondered if the level 90 decorative recipes research stopped dropping colossals at the same time.

I don't mind the grind, as it's quick after taking a little time to premake the items, but didn't want to find out 3 months from now they'd stopped dropping and I'd missed the memo.

So I take it from the response that most people are getting colossal drops "regularly" while researching the Greater Essences?

It's just from doing the daily quest, it doesn't matter what you are researching.

Everytime you hand in the daily quest you get a chance to get the reactant appropriate to whatever level you are in crafting.

TY.

I asked because I'm researching the level 90 items and doing the daily quests to make equipment for my apprentice on all 9 crafters. Over the first 3 weeks, I got 3 colossals. Except for the provisioner, all have graduated from the armor/jewelry items to the "Greater Essence of X", which I called the decorative items in the OP. Since then, over 36 days x 9 crafters I've gotten zero colossals, and a guildy with similar effort also has gotten zero.

Somewhere back there the decorative recipe changed to not need a colossal to make it, instead using roots. I've gotten a pile of rare everythings over the weeks, including the roots, and wondered if the level 90 decorative recipes research stopped dropping colossals at the same time.

I don't mind the grind, as it's quick after taking a little time to premake the items, but didn't want to find out 3 months from now they'd stopped dropping and I'd missed the memo.

So I take it from the response that most people are getting colossal drops "regularly" while researching the Greater Essences?

I don't think anyone is getting colossal reactants "regularly". Ever. Maybe if your running 27 crafters like one person around here is, but most of us with 9 or less arn't. For the record, I started day 1 doing these with 5 90 crafters and I've gotten 2 in the 5 months we've been at it with very few days missed. Like I could count the days missed on one hand.

I don't think anyone is getting colossal reactants "regularly". Ever. Maybe if your running 27 crafters like one person around here is, but most of us with 9 or less arn't. For the record, I started day 1 doing these with 5 90 crafters and I've gotten 2 in the 5 months we've been at it with very few days missed. Like I could count the days missed on one hand.

I'd have to agree with that. I have seven level 90 crafters working daily on this. The number of days I've missed could be counted on one hand. I've received a grand total of five colossal reactants. None at all in over a month, now.

I don't think anyone is getting colossal reactants "regularly". Ever. Maybe if your running 27 crafters like one person around here is, but most of us with 9 or less arn't. For the record, I started day 1 doing these with 5 90 crafters and I've gotten 2 in the 5 months we've been at it with very few days missed. Like I could count the days missed on one hand.

What the 2 of us in this guild who do it regularly noted was that early on, we got a low but decent drop. I got 3, he got 4. Maybe 1 a week in 7 x 9 = 63 tries each. After that, we have gotten zero in over a month, and like you, rarely a day missed. It almost looks like the drops were throttled back.

Again, I didn't want to be continuing the exercise if someone knew they'd discontinued the colossal drops for the Greater Essences either intentionally or unintentionally back when they changed the recipes to not utilize colossals.

That's my point. Zero in over a month is a lot less then the previous scant numbers. I see them drop from dungeons on occasion, from chat channel bidding, but has something changed on the tradeskill side?

I'd feel a lot better if some doing the level 90 Greater Essence research had gotten even one in the last month.

That's my point. Zero in over a month is a lot less then the previous scant numbers. I see them drop from dungeons on occasion, from chat channel bidding, but has something changed on the tradeskill side?

I'd feel a lot better if some doing the level 90 Greater Essence research had gotten even one in the last month.

I agree completely. It feels exactly like they've changed the drop rate on the colossals. As that's my only outlet for obtaining them, I'm less than thrilled. I play at odd times, and never see the places they do drop, and can't afford to buy them, either. With a limited and dwindling number of recipes, I'm on the verge of sending all my assistants back home to mother. I really don't like feeling like I'm wasting my time, and that's how it's starting to feel.

That's my point. Zero in over a month is a lot less then the previous scant numbers. I see them drop from dungeons on occasion, from chat channel bidding, but has something changed on the tradeskill side?

I'd feel a lot better if some doing the level 90 Greater Essence research had gotten even one in the last month.

I agree completely. It feels exactly like they've changed the drop rate on the colossals. As that's my only outlet for obtaining them, I'm less than thrilled. I play at odd times, and never see the places they do drop, and can't afford to buy them, either. With a limited and dwindling number of recipes, I'm on the verge of sending all my assistants back home to mother. I really don't like feeling like I'm wasting my time, and that's how it's starting to feel.

You probably should send them back. TAs were never meant to be a decent source for reactants. The amount of effort put in to getting one should've been enough of a hint. They were only meant to provide good recipes for people to learn and the opportunity to have some time as the person to do business with for one item or another.

I play at odd times, too. I dont' see myself getting to some of those zones anytime soon, so getting a colossal reactant is kinda moot. There's new gear coming in april that will be close enough in stats.

You probably should send them back. TAs were never meant to be a decent source for reactants. The amount of effort put in to getting one should've been enough of a hint. They were only meant to provide good recipes for people to learn and the opportunity to have some time as the person to do business with for one item or another.

I play at odd times, too. I dont' see myself getting to some of those zones anytime soon, so getting a colossal reactant is kinda moot. There's new gear coming in april that will be close enough in stats.

With a limited number of recipes, I'd never consider the TAs a "decent" source of reactants. For me, they were the only source. Eventually the recipes will run out and then the TAs turn into a house decoration, nothing more. With seven level 90 tradeskillers working daily, I didn't have a problem with getting one every couple weeks. The fact that they appear to have dried up completely, however, does bother me. As for the notion that I can always make things for other people, in all this time, I've made a total of one item for someone else. Too many cooks, not enough broth.

I've decided I'll continue doing the missions until the recipes currently in progress are complete, and then no more. There is no point in it for me.

As for the new gear coming out, I really have no expectation of seeing that stuff, either. If I can't afford/obtain Drunder level gear, what expectations should I have in being able to obtain the newer, better gear?

You probably should send them back. TAs were never meant to be a decent source for reactants. The amount of effort put in to getting one should've been enough of a hint. They were only meant to provide good recipes for people to learn and the opportunity to have some time as the person to do business with for one item or another.

I play at odd times, too. I dont' see myself getting to some of those zones anytime soon, so getting a colossal reactant is kinda moot. There's new gear coming in april that will be close enough in stats.

With a limited number of recipes, I'd never consider the TAs a "decent" source of reactants. For me, they were the only source. Eventually the recipes will run out and then the TAs turn into a house decoration, nothing more. With seven level 90 tradeskillers working daily, I didn't have a problem with getting one every couple weeks. The fact that they appear to have dried up completely, however, does bother me. As for the notion that I can always make things for other people, in all this time, I've made a total of one item for someone else. Too many cooks, not enough broth.

I've decided I'll continue doing the missions until the recipes currently in progress are complete, and then no more. There is no point in it for me.

As for the new gear coming out, I really have no expectation of seeing that stuff, either. If I can't afford/obtain Drunder level gear, what expectations should I have in being able to obtain the newer, better gear?

I'm with you. The only thing that keeps me going is Stone threatened to make my coffee away if I quit doing the apprentice quests. Though I can say that I did receive my second colossal reactant last week. With the upcoming lvl increase I forsee a drop in the need for the reactants based on what people are saying in chat..

I don't see myself obtaining Drunder level gear or the new gear either. .

You probably should send them back. TAs were never meant to be a decent source for reactants. The amount of effort put in to getting one should've been enough of a hint. They were only meant to provide good recipes for people to learn and the opportunity to have some time as the person to do business with for one item or another.

I play at odd times, too. I dont' see myself getting to some of those zones anytime soon, so getting a colossal reactant is kinda moot. There's new gear coming in april that will be close enough in stats.

With a limited number of recipes, I'd never consider the TAs a "decent" source of reactants. For me, they were the only source. Eventually the recipes will run out and then the TAs turn into a house decoration, nothing more. With seven level 90 tradeskillers working daily, I didn't have a problem with getting one every couple weeks. The fact that they appear to have dried up completely, however, does bother me. As for the notion that I can always make things for other people, in all this time, I've made a total of one item for someone else. Too many cooks, not enough broth.

I've decided I'll continue doing the missions until the recipes currently in progress are complete, and then no more. There is no point in it for me.

As for the new gear coming out, I really have no expectation of seeing that stuff, either. If I can't afford/obtain Drunder level gear, what expectations should I have in being able to obtain the newer, better gear?

Once all the recipes are researched, you can still keep doing the daily quest and get the rewards. Whether you want to do that is a completely different thing

I went for 47 days without a reactant, not to mention the crafters that have not received one at all from day one. RNG can be really fickle and frustrating.

You probably should send them back. TAs were never meant to be a decent source for reactants. The amount of effort put in to getting one should've been enough of a hint. They were only meant to provide good recipes for people to learn and the opportunity to have some time as the person to do business with for one item or another.

I play at odd times, too. I dont' see myself getting to some of those zones anytime soon, so getting a colossal reactant is kinda moot. There's new gear coming in april that will be close enough in stats.

With a limited number of recipes, I'd never consider the TAs a "decent" source of reactants. For me, they were the only source. Eventually the recipes will run out and then the TAs turn into a house decoration, nothing more. With seven level 90 tradeskillers working daily, I didn't have a problem with getting one every couple weeks. The fact that they appear to have dried up completely, however, does bother me. As for the notion that I can always make things for other people, in all this time, I've made a total of one item for someone else. Too many cooks, not enough broth.

I've decided I'll continue doing the missions until the recipes currently in progress are complete, and then no more. There is no point in it for me.

As for the new gear coming out, I really have no expectation of seeing that stuff, either. If I can't afford/obtain Drunder level gear, what expectations should I have in being able to obtain the newer, better gear?

Once all the recipes are researched, you can still keep doing the daily quest and get the rewards. Whether you want to do that is a completely different thing

I went for 47 days without a reactant, not to mention the crafters that have not received one at all from day one. RNG can be really fickle and frustrating.

Once all the recipes are researched, you can still keep doing the daily quest and get the rewards. Whether you want to do that is a completely different thing

I went for 47 days without a reactant, not to mention the crafters that have not received one at all from day one. RNG can be really fickle and frustrating.

I wasn't aware that you could continue doing the daily quests after the recipes were done. That's nice to know, but the only award that makes it worthwhile (to me, anyway) is the chance at a colossal reactant. In the amount of time it takes me to run all my tradeskillers through their missions I can pop over to a tier 9 zone and come away with more harvests and more rares than I can get from doing the missions. The potions aren't bad, but I rarely use them, and probably have more, at this point, than I ever will.

You said you went 47 days without a reactant...how many crafters do you have running the missions? With seven crafters, I just broke 40 days without getting one.

And it is possible that the RNG is just being fickle; however, it feels more and more like it's something else. And for those players who haven't gotten any at all, I can certainly feel for them.

Once all the recipes are researched, you can still keep doing the daily quest and get the rewards. Whether you want to do that is a completely different thing

I went for 47 days without a reactant, not to mention the crafters that have not received one at all from day one. RNG can be really fickle and frustrating.

I wasn't aware that you could continue doing the daily quests after the recipes were done. That's nice to know, but the only award that makes it worthwhile (to me, anyway) is the chance at a colossal reactant. In the amount of time it takes me to run all my tradeskillers through their missions I can pop over to a tier 9 zone and come away with more harvests and more rares than I can get from doing the missions. The potions aren't bad, but I rarely use them, and probably have more, at this point, than I ever will.

You said you went 47 days without a reactant...how many crafters do you have running the missions? With seven crafters, I just broke 40 days without getting one.

Anyway, I realize the RNG is fickle; however, this is really starting to feel more and more like something else. And, for those who have never gotten one, I can certainly understand their frustration.

Once all the recipes are researched, you can still keep doing the daily quest and get the rewards. Whether you want to do that is a completely different thing

I went for 47 days without a reactant, not to mention the crafters that have not received one at all from day one. RNG can be really fickle and frustrating.

I wasn't aware that you could continue doing the daily quests after the recipes were done. That's nice to know, but the only award that makes it worthwhile (to me, anyway) is the chance at a colossal reactant. In the amount of time it takes me to run all my tradeskillers through their missions I can pop over to a tier 9 zone and come away with more harvests and more rares than I can get from doing the missions. The potions aren't bad, but I rarely use them, and probably have more, at this point, than I ever will.

You said you went 47 days without a reactant...how many crafters do you have running the missions? With seven crafters, I just broke 40 days without getting one.

Anyway, I realize the RNG is fickle; however, this is really starting to feel more and more like something else. And, for those who have never gotten one, I can certainly understand their frustration.

What does what you can harvest in the same time have to do with anything? (btw, I'll take that bet on the rares and who cares about the junk harvests) It's at most a 5 minute quest even with zoning twice and crafting...or you could stock up on a bunch of finished products instead and just hail and turn in.

__________________
_________________________________"EQ2 is not a "free to play" game, so microtransactions are unlikely to ever have the "front seat" role that they have in F2P games" - SmokeJumper - 4/20/2010

Once all the recipes are researched, you can still keep doing the daily quest and get the rewards. Whether you want to do that is a completely different thing

I went for 47 days without a reactant, not to mention the crafters that have not received one at all from day one. RNG can be really fickle and frustrating.

I wasn't aware that you could continue doing the daily quests after the recipes were done. That's nice to know, but the only award that makes it worthwhile (to me, anyway) is the chance at a colossal reactant. In the amount of time it takes me to run all my tradeskillers through their missions I can pop over to a tier 9 zone and come away with more harvests and more rares than I can get from doing the missions. The potions aren't bad, but I rarely use them, and probably have more, at this point, than I ever will.

You said you went 47 days without a reactant...how many crafters do you have running the missions? With seven crafters, I just broke 40 days without getting one.

And it is possible that the RNG is just being fickle; however, it feels more and more like it's something else. And for those players who haven't gotten any at all, I can certainly feel for them.

I have double of each craft class and some triples... T9 all of them. Some have not received a reactant and that's from day one of the apprentices being released.

Who knows if it's something else, it's not until something gets "fixed" sometimes that we (the players) find out something was broken :p

What does what you can harvest in the same time have to do with anything? (btw, I'll take that bet on the rares and who cares about the junk harvests) It's at most a 5 minute quest even with zoning twice and crafting...or you could stock up on a bunch of finished products instead and just hail and turn in.

In a discussion of rewards for doing something, it is quite relevent. There are essentially four different rewards for doing the daily missions:

1. Normal harvest

2. Rare harvest

3. Potion

4. Reactant

I consider #1 the boobie prize. I just don't care about normal harvests. I toss those in the guild depot, or in the trash, depending on my mood.

The rare harvest isn't bad, but if I'm looking for rares then running the missions is a waste of my time. I get many times more by actually harvesting. Sure, it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but it really isn't anything I'm going to get overly excited about.

The potions? The only one I've found any use for is the one that increases your chance at harvesting a rare. I think I've used a grand total of two since this started. Again, better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but not that exciting.

Reactants? Now those I can use.

In my opinion, and your mileage may vary, there are only two worthwhile things to come out of the TAs: recipes, and the reactants required to make something from the recipes. Everything else is just fluff.

BTW, stocking up on the items does not reduce the amount of time needed to do the quests. You still have to spend time making the items. Whether or not you do it before you need it is irrelevant.

I have double of each craft class and some triples... T9 all of them. Some have not received a reactant and that's from day one of the apprentices being released.

Who knows if it's something else, it's not until something gets "fixed" sometimes that we (the players) find out something was broken :p

Yeah, not all of mine have gotten a reactant, either. If it is this rare for someone running so many tradeskillers, I shudder to think how bad it must be for someone with just one or two tradeskillers.

I'm just hoping that if we make enough noise about it that they'll consider taking a look and making sure it isn't broken. I don't mind that it's uncommon, so long as it _does_ occassionally drop.

What does what you can harvest in the same time have to do with anything? (btw, I'll take that bet on the rares and who cares about the junk harvests) It's at most a 5 minute quest even with zoning twice and crafting...or you could stock up on a bunch of finished products instead and just hail and turn in.

In a discussion of rewards for doing something, it is quite relevent. There are essentially four different rewards for doing the daily missions:

1. Normal harvest

2. Rare harvest

3. Potion

4. Reactant

I consider #1 the boobie prize. I just don't care about normal harvests. I toss those in the guild depot, or in the trash, depending on my mood.

The rare harvest isn't bad, but if I'm looking for rares then running the missions is a waste of my time. I get many times more by actually harvesting. Sure, it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but it really isn't anything I'm going to get overly excited about.

The potions? The only one I've found any use for is the one that increases your chance at harvesting a rare. I think I've used a grand total of two since this started. Again, better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but not that exciting.

Reactants? Now those I can use.

In my opinion, and your mileage may vary, there are only two worthwhile things to come out of the TAs: recipes, and the reactants required to make something from the recipes. Everything else is just fluff.

I agree completely with your final statement. I don't care at all about the first 3 potential rewards. I do disagree that your time is better spent harvesting some random zone for the whole couple of minutes it takes to run the daily quest.

You can't get 3 or 4 at all by harvesting. Nobody cares about 1. I still will take the bet that you don't average a rare in the time it takes to finish one combine.

I've got 4 90s. I still haven't seen one. I wish I had but I'm fine with that. I have guildies who've seen several. It is just RNG at work.

--edit to respond to edit--

Adir wrote:

BTW, stocking up on the items does not reduce the amount of time needed to do the quests. You still have to spend time making the items. Whether or not you do it before you need it is irrelevant.

Zoning and running takes more time than the actual crafting. Standing in one place and stocking yourself with turn-ins does reduce the amount of time long term.

__________________
_________________________________"EQ2 is not a "free to play" game, so microtransactions are unlikely to ever have the "front seat" role that they have in F2P games" - SmokeJumper - 4/20/2010

BTW, stocking up on the items does not reduce the amount of time needed to do the quests. You still have to spend time making the items. Whether or not you do it before you need it is irrelevant.

Somewhat Disagree.

How much time it saves you is debatable. I find I can whip out 20 of 'x' in one sitting, faster than I could make 20 individual 'x's one each day. You gotta hail the otter, go to the thing, start the crafting session, find the right recipe, craft the thing, return to the otter. Not nearly as efficient as blasting 20 our in a row without taking a breath. Maybe if the crafting station was right next to the otter, and you had each item hotbar'd, they could be made in equivalent time. But I still bet pre-crafting would come out ahead.

Also, if you do all your pre-crafting while watching a movie, it's practically free

I like some of the potions quite a bit. The xp one for when new level arrives will come in handy, the progress one is superb for crafters that mass produce items (ww comes to mind, almost all progress ones gets used by her exclusively lol, although I could think of couple of items from other crafters that could benefit from using these).

Each of the pots I guess have some use depending on the crafter. Now that said, don't misunderstand me.. I'd prefer the colossal over the potions any day :p but if not a colossal, then the potions will do nicely.

I agree completely with your final statement. I don't care at all about the first 3 potential rewards. I do disagree that your time is better spent harvesting some random zone for the whole couple of minutes it takes to run the daily quest.

You can't get 3 or 4 at all by harvesting. Nobody cares about 1. I still will take the bet that you don't average a rare in the time it takes to finish one combine.

I've got 4 90s. I still haven't seen one. I wish I had but I'm fine with that. I have guildies who've seen several. It is just RNG at work.

--edit to respond to edit--

Adir wrote:

BTW, stocking up on the items does not reduce the amount of time needed to do the quests. You still have to spend time making the items. Whether or not you do it before you need it is irrelevant.

Zoning and running takes more time than the actual crafting. Standing in one place and stocking yourself with turn-ins does reduce the amount of time long term.

I can go days without seeing a rare as a reward from running the missions. If I'm after rares, I'll go harvest them. I can get several in 30 minutes time, which is roughly how long it takes me to run my seven tradeskillers through the missions.

I still disagree about pre-making the turn-ins. Sure, it's more convenient, but it's really no time savings. Whether you spend 10 minutes now, cranking them out, or 10 minutes over several days cranking them out, one-by-one, is irrelevent. You still spend 10 minutes. And I can watch t.v. either way. For me, the time spent running from my TA to station and back is insignificant.

I understand how to compute probability of success. If the true drop rate is as low as 1%, I can go 30 days x 9 crafters (270 chances) and still have something like greater than 6% chance of not getting a colossal. That's not absurbly low. It's close to being the same as rolling a pair of dice one time and not getting either a 2 or a 12.

I started this thread because I had seen zero drops in about a month, and wondered if I'd missed a note saying that they had stopped dropping for tradeskillers, OR, that corresponding to the change in the decorative recipes to not use colossals, a bug had snuck into the code that stopped them from dropping for those recipes, which is all I have left.

As long as someone has gotten a drop doing the Essence recipe research, I'll conclude I'm down in the 6%, and keep trying.

One thing I noticed and didn't see posted. The reactant drops is based on your quest lvl (TS lvl). Not the lvl of the recipie you are crafting. So you can research the lower lvl recipies with a lvl 90 tser and still get colossals.

I understand how to compute probability of success. If the true drop rate is as low as 1%, I can go 30 days x 9 crafters (270 chances) and still have something like greater than 6% chance of not getting a colossal. That's not absurbly low. It's close to being the same as rolling a pair of dice one time and not getting either a 2 or a 12.

I started this thread because I had seen zero drops in about a month, and wondered if I'd missed a note saying that they had stopped dropping for tradeskillers, OR, that corresponding to the change in the decorative recipes to not use colossals, a bug had snuck into the code that stopped them from dropping for those recipes, which is all I have left.

As long as someone has gotten a drop doing the Essence recipe research, I'll conclude I'm down in the 6%, and keep trying.

I'm telling you people that 1% is pie in the sky over optamistic for the drop rate of a Colossal. I'm sure it is probably closer to 0.01% than 1%.

From what people have said you can continue to do the daily missions even without a recipe selected. Same drops occure. Drops seems to be dependent on your crafters level. Researching lower teirs doesn't have any effect on what rewards you get. Thinking that a change in the recipes components from reactants to roots seems supersticious. There is no way a player could collect enough information to make an informed opinion. Refuting this is like refuting pink unicorns: all you can say is you haven't see it.

Still, from what I understand is that even after you run out of recipes you can still do the daily quest and possibly get a reactant. If that chance alone is worth it I'd continue to do the quests. Heck, so far my unplayed crafting alts are collecting AA points from doing it, which is worth more than the rare harvests or potions.